Напольная акустика — Pantheone Audio Pantheone I

The Pantheone I is an active wireless loudspeaker from Pantheone Audio, an Australian-born brand that builds speakers from hand-cast architectural resin and aims them at architects, interior designers and listeners who want the speaker to double as a sculpture. Its dome shape takes its cue from the Pantheon in Rome, and the maker sells it at USD 3,950 in glossy black or matte white. The range also includes the portable Obsidian and sets that combine one Pantheone I with an Obsidian for multiroom use.

Key specs that matter

Eight drivers radiate through 360 degrees - two 6.5 inch high-excursion woofers, two 4 inch coated paper cone midrange units and four 0.75 inch silk dome tweeters. A Class D amplifier with built-in DSP gives 2 x 130 W to the woofers and 2 x 70 W to the midrange and tweeters, a total of 400 W. Frequency response is 33 Hz to 22 kHz, and streams are accepted at up to 24 bit and 192 kHz. The enclosure measures 653 mm high, 460 mm wide and 437 mm deep and weighs 25 kg, and it is built from polished resin, ABS plastic and acoustic fabric.

Engineering and use context

Resin is dense and has little internal resonance, which is why Pantheone uses it for the enclosure, and each shell is finished by hand, so no two units are identical. Spreading the drivers around the body lets the speaker fill a space from a central position rather than from one wall, which fits its role as a free-standing object. The internal DSP divides the signal between the three driver groups and sets their levels, so no passive crossover or external amplifier is involved. Networking uses dual-band Wi-Fi at 2.4 and 5 GHz or a 10/100 Ethernet port, with AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Amazon Music, TuneIn and DLNA, and Amazon Alexa is built in. Bluetooth 5.0 supports SBC, AAC and aptX, and local files can be played in FLAC, ALAC, WAV, APE, AAC and MP3. Control runs through the Pantheone app for iOS and Android, which also installs firmware updates over the air, and the multiroom system links up to eight rooms. The speaker needs a mains outlet, and at least 1.2 m of free space from walls is advised, with corners best avoided.

Pairing

A 3.5 mm analogue input accepts a turntable with a phono stage, a CD player or a television, and a second unit can be added for stereo or multiroom playback.

Alternatives

The Pantheone Obsidian is the brand's other wireless loudspeaker, a portable model.